With the current global crisis, high levels of volatility in trade, capital flows, commodity prices, aid, and the looming threat of climate change, this book brings together high-quality research and presents conceptual issues and empirical results to analyze the determinants of the vulnerability to poverty in developing countries.

The causes and consequences of high inequality in incomes, assets, and many aspects of well-being in Latin America have recently (re-)emerged as a central research and policy issue. However, many open questions remain that will be dealt with in the contributions to this volume. First, the linkages between growth, inequality, and poverty in Latin America need further clarification. More analyses at the country and even sub-national level are required to understand these complex relationships and their most important determinants. Of particular relevance is to examine these relationships in the Latin American context of high economic instability with recurrent economic and financial crises, particularly in the 1990s. Secondly, measuring and addressing poverty remains a critical research area, in particular non-monetary including subjective indicators of well-being often tell a different story that needs to be considered when analyzing poverty trends and determinants. Lastly, the poverty/inequality issues need to be considered in an economic environment, where trade, migration, and economic integration are of particular importance. Thus the role of trade and migration in generating, sustaining, or reducing inequalities between and within countries is an area that requires further analysis.